Jenny Lau

Administrative Assistant: Rebecca Bagnarol,rebecca.bagnarol@uhn.ca

 Research Synopsis

Our research program is studying and developing innovative strategies for delivering palliative care for marginalized and underrepresented populations. A current major area of interest is palliative care for people who use drugs including prevention, identification and management of opioid-related health harms. Our team developed and published Canadian Society of Palliative Care Physicians-endorsed expert consensus recommendations about opioid safety in adult palliative medicine. Funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), we have also conducted scoping reviews about the identification and management of opioid-related harms in palliative care, and palliative care for people who use drugs during communicable disease epidemics and pandemics. We are currently conducting a Health Canada and CIHR-funded mixed-methods project using ICES data and qualitative interviews to examine palliative care and end-of-life outcomes for people with a history of opioid-related health harms.